E-Paper
Chandigarh: Advocate promises friend HC job, dupes him of ₹22 lakh
Chandigarh Police said the accused, Gopal Soni, and complainant Dinesh Kumar of Bhiwani, Haryana, were childhood friends.
Police have booked a city-based advocate for duping a Haryana resident of ₹22 lakh on the promise of getting the latter appointed as a superintendent in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Police said the accused, Gopal Soni, and complainant Dinesh Kumar of Bhiwani, Haryana, were childhood friends.
In his complaint, Kumar stated that in February 2021, Soni met him in Bhiwani, and shared that he had been selected for Haryana Judicial Services and will soon be appointed as a judge in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
“He assured to help me settle down in Chandigarh. In the second week of March 2021, he informed me about some vacant posts in the high court that will be filled through a secret selection process. He also gave me an application form, citing that the form was not available on the website due to the secret process,” Kumar alleged.
He further claimed that the accused told him that the posts were only meant for judges’ close connections.
On Soni’s assurance that he will get a salary of ₹2.25 lakh per month, he filled the application form. He later received a joining letter for the post of reader through WhatsApp that was signed by Sanjeev Berry, the registrar general of high court, Kumar alleged, adding that he paid a total of ₹22 lakh to Soni for getting him the job, only to realise that he was being defrauded.
On his complaint, police have registered a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (fraudulently using document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.
